


The Rocket Car

by Born In Captivity- Ineligible to Release (Jashasedai)



Series: Alternate Universe - Tame Racing Drivers [36]
Category: Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Tame Racing Drivers, Car Accidents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 03:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12950187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jashasedai/pseuds/Born%20In%20Captivity-%20Ineligible%20to%20Release
Summary: An AU in which a secret species is used as Racing Drivers, crashes, even second hand are an emotional experienceWhen Richard crashes the Vampire rocket car, Stig stays cool in a crisis





	The Rocket Car

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marginaliana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marginaliana/gifts).



> This is part of the Tame Racing Drivers AU. Read the series summary.

**The Rocket Car**

 

 The car was yellow and orange.  Stig’s skin was still tingling where he’d touched it.  Incredible.  He watched the men strap Richard, in a blank helmet, into the car.

 He’d like to try.  Ben had said he could, if Richard didn’t work out.  The two of them watched from a distance.  Stig rose up on his toes and watched the rocket car accelerate.  The sound she made was loud and sweet and perfect.  He let out a low noise.

 She was down the longest runway in an instant, faster than anything he’d ever seen on the ground.  They told him she was faster than anything else there WAS on the ground.

 The jets were faster, but that was cheating.

 His mouth curled up on one side.

 James should have been doing this.  He’d been supposed to.

 If James had gone, Stig might have been able to ride along.

 Drive that machine.

 It took them a long time to set her up again for her next run.  The best ones always took a lot of care and coddling.  She deserved the attention.

 The second run was just as incredible.  When Richard got out he was shaking.  He was experiencing the shaking.

 [Someone needs to feed him something.  He’s too worked up,] Stig told Ben, who trotted off to make sure Richard got something in his belly to counteract the surge of chemicals from the excitement.  Even if it was only a cup of tea and a biscuit, it would be something.

 Then they lined up for another run.

 Richard must have been more fearful this time, because he didn’t take her up to such a high speed.  Or the sensitive littlest presenter could feel the flaw.

 Sharp eyes, practiced at catching the briefest glimpse of gestures or imperfections in a track at high speed, easily caught the instant the front tire blew out.

 Stig grabbed Ben’s arm and they were running across the tarmac towards the grass.

 The rocket car was rolling, over and over.  The cage protecting Richard’s head, at least a little.  Stig hoped.

 They were farther away and their quicker reaction brought them up still behind the nearer rescuers.  Ben stopped and kept Stig back.  Neither of them would be any help.  The track medics were efficiently and safely removing Richard from the wreck of the rocket car.

 The medics made noises back and forth to each other.  Unintelligible noises.  They jabbered back and forth and hurried and went slow in no pattern Stig could predict or understand.

 They put Richard on a carrier and put him in a van.  Put his body in a van?

 One of the men came over and made noises at Ben, who made noises back.  The man waved his hands in gibberish motions.  Another man came up and joined in gibbering and bleating.

 [Ben,] Stig gestured, presently, trying to get his attention.

 He wasn’t looking, and he kept making noises at the other human.  This one wasn’t in medical gear, and he wasn’t one of the Top Gear humans, so he must have been one of the ones that came with the car.  The other man, beside Ben was a human Stig knew, one of the Top Gear crew.

 [Ben,] Stig said again.

 The Top Gear crewman’s eyes went to Stig, but he didn’t speak gestures, and he went back to looking at the man who’d come with the rocket car.

 Then Ben turned to Stig, [Yeah, buddy?]

 [Is he dead or what?] Stig asked.

 [Sorry! He is alive.  Big hurt.  Went to medics.]

 Stig felt happy Richard was alive.  Richard was very nice, according to James.  Sometimes he didn’t acknowledge Stig.  Not like he thought Stig was too stupid to understand.  Richard often didn’t make a special point to acknowledge different people in the room.  Richard saw Stig as just part of the group.

 Richard made jokes about Stig sometimes, which James did his best to translate.  Stig mocked him back.

 Because that’s what the Top Gear guys did.

 Made jokes about one another.

 All 4 of them.

 [These men want to ask,] Ben told him.  He pointed at the other two men.  [I get James.  Translate.  I can’t.]

 His gestures were getting better, but he was right, anything difficult to express would be beyond him.  [Yes.  Get James,] Stig agreed.

 James, when he arrived, was extremely agitated.  That was unusual and Stig bled off some of the fear from the man, but didn’t mention that he’d done it. 

 He gave a report to the men, explaining what had happened as far as he knew, and told them Richard had done a remarkable job keeping the car under control as well as he did.  He would have made any Racing Driver proud.

 Then, they went back to Stig’s stall.

 James’ phone had made noise several times during the report, and he had gotten more agitated again, each time.  He was eager to leave.  He could go to where Richard was, and wanted to go see that he was safe.

 [Alright, I’ll be back tomorrow,] James said, once they’d gotten to the room and Stig had changed out of his race suit into normal clothes and taken off his helmet.  He headed for the door.  Stig took a jogging step and caught his arm.

 He looked down where he was being held, he didn’t like being touched, and the Racing Driver knew it.

 [James,] Stig gestured.  He bit his lip.  [That was almost you.]  He shook his head.

 James sighed and put an arm around Stig’s shoulders.  They put their foreheads together.  His hair fell in a curtain around them, shutting them off from everything else.  ‘I’m alright, it wasn’t me.’

 It had been years, waiting for his other self to find him, and now he had, and to lose that would be intolerable.  If anything happened to James, there would be nothing left for Stig.

 ‘Don’t leave me, James.  Don’t you ever leave me behind.’

 James was the best thing.

 In the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Real People don't belong to me.
> 
> This story is fiction and is no reflection on anyone in it. The story does belong to me, as does the AU in which it is set.


End file.
